EU-FP7-SME- project

DEMO-NOPERSIST

Demonstration of NOPERSIST results leading to novel, validated diagnostic tests for active human and bovine tuberculosis

Grant agreement no: 606577

Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Mahavir Singh, LIONEX GmbH

Tuberculosis (TB) in humans and bovine TB in farm animals are global
health problems of immense social and economic importance.Human TB:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) is a slowly replicating bacillus that
resides intracellularly within phagosomes of macrophages and commonly
causes latent infections of the lung and in about 5% of the infected
individuals it leads to active disease. Co-infection with M.
tuberculosis is estimated in about one-third of HIV-1 infected subjects.
Indeed, the risk of developing M. tuberculosis as an opportunistic
infection is increased up to 200-fold in HIV-1+ subjects. Drug
resistance to HIV-treatment and appearance of multiple-drug resistance
(MDR) and off late of Extra-Drug Resistance (XDR) strains of M.
tuberculosis, the causative agent of human TB is steadily leading to a
hopeless situation as far as the therapy is concerned.Bovine TB: Bovine
tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis, which is
closely related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of human
tuberculosis. M. bovis can be transmitted to humans through the
ingestion of unpasteurised milk and milk products as well as aerosols,
from infected cows. The introduction of pasteurisation eliminated
transmission through contaminated milk and greatly reduced the human
health problem1. The principal hosts for bovine tuberculosis are cattle
and buffalo, however many other domestic and wild animals can become
infected e.g. goats, cervids, pigs, wild boars, dogs, cats, camels,
badgers, primates, hares, amongst others.Bovine tuberculosis is found
worldwide. All developed countries currently have a TB eradication
program in place for many years. These programs have been largely
successful; however, incidences are increasing in many countries (e.g.
UK, Ireland, France, Austria, Germany).

Aims of DEMO-NOPERSIST project: 1. Development and
evaluation of prototype test kits for active human TB (LIONEX, SME).
This test shall be the World’s first blood test for discriminating
latent from active TB in humans.2. Development and evaluation of
prototype test kits for active Bovine TB (PRIONICS, SME)3. To develop
marketable, improved diagnostic products for human and bovine TB within a
period of 2-3 years .